Bankers On Wall Street And In The City Are Bracing Themselves For A Feeble Bonus Season

Bankers at the major investment banks on each side of the Atlantic are going to see shallower bonus pools this year, according to the Financial Times, citing a number of sources from big financial institutions.

Here’s the FT:

One finance officer at a large Wall Street bank said it had been difficult to satisfy the warring parties: mergers and acquisitions and equity underwriting enjoyed a good year but these advisory bankers never suffered the same bonus cuts as traders so they should not expect a big rebound in payouts.

In London people close to big City investment banks such as Deutsche Bank and Barclays said their bonus pools had been hit by weaker fixed-income trading figures and the impact of a European bonus cap.

The European Union’s bonus cap, which was fought fiercely by the UK’s Treasury, means that nobody can earn more than 100% of their existing salary as a bonus without the approval of shareholders. Even then, the limit is 200%.